What are the best things about attending Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine?

In my opinion the single best thing about attending Nova Southeastern University is the student body. The admissions does a great job at selecting students with personalities that mesh together. The environment of NSU is overall very friendly. There is not a single person in my class that I dislike. This was not something I expected at all entering school. All of the D2, D3, and D4 students are extremely willing to help, and are constantly asking if we need help with anything. I don’t feel or notice any real competitive environment between my classmates as everyone is willing to help each other daily. Having a student body that is welcoming and helpful made me feel at home within the first few weeks.

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What are the worst things about attending Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine?

The worst part about NSU are the expenses. All dental schools are expensive, but at NSU sometimes random fees pop up that we were not aware of. For example, there was an extra fee we were required to pay in order to use the school’s sim lab during the endo/prosth ADEX boards exam that we had to pay by check (not included in tuition). As for instruments, the school used to require all students to buy an “instrument kit” first year that cost around $12,000, and then a 2nd year instrument kit that was around $8,000. These instruments and supplies were everything you needed for sim lab. You also used these instruments in clinic on patients to keep track of them since they were your own and tried hard to keep track of them since you owned thm. The school recently implemented a rental system that is used for 3rd and 4th year clinic only. The rental system is also an extra fee (I think $2,000 a semester). You are still required to purchase the 1st and 2nd year instrument kits for sim lab, although some of the required instruments have been reduced so the fee is somewhat reduced. That being said, the dental supplies we use are extremely overpriced. All our supplies must come from the school's supplier, Henry Schein. They overcharge us for a lot of items in our kit. The total cost for this must be paid out of loan money from the year and can either be paid in full in the fall or in installments each semester.

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What do students need to know/what do you wish you knew before attending Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine?

I wish I knew that Nova had their students take the Part 1 of the NBDE after their first year. I think taking it after the second year is more beneficial and allows for more time to learn the materials we are required to know. Again, that doesn't matter much now that the integrated boards are being implemented, but it speaks to the oversight of Nova in general that for years students were forced to take a front-loaded first year simply so they could take part 1 after that year.

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